Beyond simply refusing to shop in their stores, if you find yourself in a store you didn’t know was blocking Apple Pay or if you have no other alternative, “when a CVS, a Rite Aid, or another store rejects your phone payment, you can punish them by socking them with transaction fees,” Rob Pegoraro reports for Yahoo Tech. “Instead of using their mobile payment system, whip out your credit card. And not just any credit card, but one with a higher transaction fee.”
“Say you’ve got three cards handy: a regular Visa, a fancier Visa labeled ‘Signature Preferred,’ and an American Express. The first can cost between 1.15 to 1.65 percent for the merchant to accept, the second raises that to 2.1 to 2.4 percent, and the AmEx runs from 2.89 to 3.2 percent,” Pegoraro reports.
(AmEx can pull that off because of its record of attracting spendier shoppers, but it’s not alone in employing this strategy.) Using MasterCard instead? Its ‘World’ cards also cost extra, though not as much.”
“And since most of these premium cards reward your spending with cash or points back, the word for using them to punish a control-freak merchant can be not just ‘priceless,’ but ‘profitable,'” Pegoraro reports. “Perhaps the retailers will get the message and begin to once again let customers pay for goods the way they want to.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: First and foremost, don’t shop at any Apple Pay blockers, but if you’re stuck, this is a good alternative. We plan to AMEX the ever-living crap out of any retailer we find that’s artificially blocking Apple Pay.
Related articles:
iPhone users and Android settlers raid reviews of CurrentC payments app – October 29, 2014
Retailer-backed MCX Apple Pay rival has already been hacked; testers’ email addresses stolen – October 29, 2014
Why Walmart, CVS and Rite-Aid really hate Apple Pay: They can’t track your buying habits – October 29, 2014
CurrentC retailers’ conundrum: MCX contract expressly bars Apple Pay acceptance – October 29, 2014
Retailers like CVS and Rite Aid that block Apple Pay are taking a big security risk – October 28, 2014
Apple Pay tussle with CVS, Rite Aid the first shot in mobile payments war – October 28, 2014
In one week, Apple Pay already No. 1; used more than all other mobile payment systems combined – October 28, 2014
Alibaba’s Jack Ma says open to working with Apple on Apple Pay – October 28, 2014
Tim Cook blasts CVS, Rite Aid over Apple Pay blockade: ‘You only are relevant if your customers love you’ – October 28, 2014
Seeking personal data, Walmart, Best Buy, and others won’t let shoppers enjoy Apple Pay privacy – October 27, 2014
Boycott CVS and Rite Aid – October 27, 2014
Bad business: CVS and Rite Aid antagonize their most well-heeled customers by blocking Apple Pay – October 27, 2014
CVS stores reportedly disabling NFC to shut down Apple Pay – October 25, 2014
iPhone users earn significantly more than those who settle for Android phones – October 8, 2014
Yet more proof that Android is for poor people – June 27, 2014
More proof that Android is for poor people – May 13, 2014
Apple’s iOS dominates in richer countries, Android in poorer regions – March 25, 2014
Twitter heat map shows iPhone use by the affluent, Android by the poor – June 20, 2013
iPhone users smarter, richer than Android phone users – August 16, 2011
Yankee Group: Apple iPhone owners shop more, buy more, remain more loyal vs. other device users – July 20, 2010